The invention relates to building components having through openings to facilitate ventilation.
Substantially planar panel components that can be mounted horizontally as soffit panels under the eaves of a building overhang, are provided with ventilation openings located on internal surfaces disposed behind elongated slots. These internal surfaces are arranged at a low angle of incidence or are entirely obscured from view in a configuration with a dovetail or keystone shape. According to another aspect, the ventilation openings account for a high proportion of the surface area of the surfaces behind the slots, preferably exceeding the area of the slots, thereby providing a high cross sectional area open to air flow.
The components can be formed webs or sheets and preferably are flat on an exposed side but for the elongated slots. The web or sheet material is diverted from the flat plane at preferably parallel regularly-spaced elongated ridges. Each ridge forms a channel, generally U-shaped in cross section, opening as a narrow slot at the surface on the flat plane.
Ventilation openings are formed through walls of the channel disposed behind the slots. The ventilation openings thereby are at least obscured and can be made wholly invisible by placing the openings laterally outside a line of sight through the slot. In one embodiment the openings are exclusively made in laterally diverging dovetail or keystone shaped sidewalls. Although the openings are concealed, the openings can have a total ventilation cross sectional area exceeding the cross sectional area of the slot.